KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Royals shrugged off Brett Lawrie's most recent comments, which criticized Kansas City's style of play and suggested the Royals lacked veteran leadership inside their clubhouse.
"I revert back to the Bill of Rights," manager Ned Yost said. "They've got freedom of speech. They can say whatever they want to say. It doesn't matter to us."
After this weekend's contentious series with Oakland that featured six Kansas City ejections, a late slide by Lawrie, two hit-by-pitches and one 100-mph fastball behind Lawrie, the perception that the Royals are a dirty team has gained steam nationally.
Between their speed on the bases, omnipresent defense and shutdown bullpen, the Royals play a different style of baseball. Yost said the style was more of a frustrating one than a dirty one.
Center fielder Lorenzo Cain, who was hit by Scott Kazmir's pitch Sunday, said the outside chatter doesn't bother him.
"We're not worried about what other teams are saying," Cain said. "All we're worried about is winning ballgames. That's all we care about. Straight to the point, that's all we care about, winning ballgames."
Lawrie was at the center of attention over the weekend, starting with his slide into Alcides Escobar on Friday, getting hit by Yordano Ventura's pitch on Saturday and watching Kelvin Herrera's pitch sail behind him on Sunday.
"A lot of other teams have noticed the way they've been playing," Lawrie said to the San Francisco Chronicle on Tuesday. "It hasn't just been our team they've been having trouble with, there's been some other teams. This is some tired stuff that's been going on, a lot of people around the league are watching the style of play that's been going on."
Lawrie lashed out at Kansas City's fans, as well.
"And the way their fans approached everything, I hated it," Lawrie said to MLB.com on Tuesday. "The way their fans were antagonizing everything, you know, I got a first-pitch missed curveball up in my head and everyone leaps up in their seat like Bruce Buffer is about to come out. That's not how we're doing things.
"Shame on their fans for antagonizing everything that went on there, because that had a lot to do with it. Shame on the players and their team that went with it. I'm just glad it's all over and we're moving on. We don't have to see them 'til June, and we're just going to continue to go out and continue playing baseball."
You can follow Matthew DeFranks on Twitter at @MDeFranks or email him at matthew.defranks@gmail.com.
